Chapter 64 The Great Sun Fireball
Meanwhile, more than an hour ago, the father of the Tulip Grand Duke, the high-ranking mage Morton Tulip, was trekking across the ice field with his grandson and granddaughter.
In Noah Continent, nobles often liked to use beautiful things, or things with significant meaning, as their surnames. The southern principalities favored plants, with surnames such as Tulip, Thorn, and Lilac.
In the months-long war with Mocha Principality, Walker Principality was utterly defeated.
The reasons for the defeat, apart from the opponent's strong and well-equipped troops, especially their formidable cavalry, included the fact that Walker Principality's high-ranking mages were annihilated in a crucial local battle due to the intervention of a red dragon.
Morton did not participate in that war.
Morton was a gifted spellcaster, casting his first third-level spell, Fireball, at the age of fourteen. He reached the middle rank at twenty, earning a formidable reputation with his proficient Explosive Fireballs.
He loved the Fireball spell and solved any problem with it. Both enemies and allies feared him. Many nicknames were given to Morton because of this.
Fireball Barbarian, Explosion Maniac, Fierce Red Flame... Such nicknames for a learned spellcaster demonstrated Morton's preference for using Fireball to solve problems.
He reached the high rank at the age of fifty.
However, an injury in his early years halted his progress at the seventh ring high rank, ending his travels and explorations on the continent. He returned to his homeland and became a revered mage.
Morton did not care for power or status; he was devoted to researching stronger, faster, and more powerful Fireball variants, which he considered an art.
Although his body did not allow him to cast spells beyond the seventh ring, he remained engrossed in theoretical research, finding endless joy in it.
Due to his reputation as a high-ranking mage specializing in Fireball, no one wanted to provoke him. His son, Rio Tulip, won the power struggle and became the King of Walker Principality.
People respectfully called Rio Tulip the Tulip Grand Duke or the King of Walker.
The Tulip Grand Duke died in a decisive battle that changed the stalemate while leading the troops.
Morton's temperament mellowed with age, and he was no longer the hot-tempered man who would use Fireball at the slightest provocation. However, he was not as strong as before, and he became more obsessed with Fireball research, gradually fading from public view.
When Mocha Principality's army was at the gates, he had just stepped out from a long-sealed mage tower, only to hear the news of his son's death and the changing political landscape.
The enraged Morton wanted to turn all Mocha Principality soldiers to ashes, but the Thorn Grand Duke, who was aware of Morton's reputation, sent two high-ranking mages with the army to ensure the members of the Tulip family was killed completely.
In the past, Morton would have unleashed his fury regardless of the consequences, even if it meant his own death, to make his enemies pay.
But now he couldn't because his son had left behind two young children.
Unlike Morton who was old, their lives had just begun.
Seeing the fearful and panicked faces of the two children, Morton calmed down and decided to take them away from the southern kingdom, fleeing deep into the northern ice field under the pursuit of two high-ranking mages.
High-ranking mages specialized in evocation like Morton were like nuclear bombs; no one would feel safe with such an enemy lurking. Thus, they pursued relentlessly.
Deep in the northern ice field, there was a friend Morton had made in his youth, a kind, pure-hearted being who loved helping weak creatures and standing up for justice.
He crossed plains, forests, and mountains to finally reach the ice field.
But under the relentless pursuit of two high-ranking mages with power not inferior to his peak, Morton's old injury flared up.
His speed slowed, and with two children to care for, he knew he would eventually be caught. By then, he would be out of magic and unable to resist.
So Morton decided to stop voluntarily, rest and wait for the enemy.
The two six-year-old children, Lilith and Amos Tulip, looked at Morton anxiously.
"Grandpa Morton... how are you feeling?" Lilith, a little girl with blonde hair, fair skin, and sky blue eyes asked weakly.
So much like her... Morton looked at Lilith, feeling a warm current in his heart, and a look of reminiscence flashed in his eyes.
"We'll carry you; don't give up." The little boy, Amos, spoke with a tender but unusually steady voice for his age.
